Metadata in Dataedo

Dataedo is metadata repository, meaning that it holds data about data stored in other databases and sources, making metadata its key data asset. This article summarizes different types of data stored in Dataedo repository.

Imported vs user-defined

Data in Dataedo repository has two key source classes:

• imported from external databases and sources with build in connectors (this part includes mostly database schema) and
• generated by users directly in Dataedo repository with use of UI (this class includes descriptions, enriched schema, custom fields, etc.).

Types of metadata

Database schema - imported

Key data stored in Dataedo repository is database schema. This is detailed information imported from the databases, that includes:

• Tables
• Columns
• Relations (foreign key constraints)
• Primary and unique keys
• Views and their scripts
• Stored procedures, parameters and script
• Functions, parameters and script
• Triggers

Database schema - user-defined

Users can also supplement or define database schema manually. This inclides

• Manual (user-defined) documentation (entire schema is manual)
• Manual tables in imported documentations
• Manual columns in imported tables
• Manual column sorting
• Relationship/foreign key cardinality

Descriptions

Key functionality of Dataedo is the ability to provide descriptions for database elements. Each object and element in Dataedo repository has one description field. This description is imported from the source (if source provides such field) once and then maintained in Dataedo repository with UI.

There are two types of description fields:

• Rich text - for objects such as tables, procedures etc.
• Plain text - for object elements, such as columns, parameters etc.

Titles (aliases)

Most schema elements in Dataedo have a title field where you can provide meaningful names/aliases for physical objects that often have confusing names (e.g. Customers for cust_tab) .

Custom fields

For most objects and elements in Dataedo repository you can define additional descriptive fields (besides title and description) called custom fields.

Dependencies

Dataedo stores information about dependencies between database objects. This information is imported from source database if specific database provides such information and can be also added manually by user.

Schema changes (Enterprise)

Dataedo allows tracking changes of database schema and stores changes in separate structures in its repository.